A great many tooth shapes are in use for manually operated saws or motor-driven saws having a saw blade which is operated in alternating movements back and forth. Among others, the tooth shapes probably encountered most frequently with longitudinal saw blades are: AV tooth shape, KV tooth shape, M tooth shape, NU tooth shape, NV tooth shape, PV tooth shape.
The per se known tooth shapes are illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying FIG. 1. The AV tooth is defined as a symmetrical triangular tooth. The KV tooth is defined by an asymmetrial tooth body having a chamfered relief, the tooth body extending from a reinforced broad tooth base along a second flank which includes a so-called second flank angle with a plane perpendicular to the saw blade. In the range of the tooth crest, the second flank is followed by a first flank which is less inclined than the second one and extends at a first flank angle with respect to the plane perpendicular to the saw blade. From the crest, the tooth body extends continuously linearly to the tooth base along the rake edge which is located opposite the first and second flanks. The so-called M tooth has the shape of the letter M, a little flute being formed in the middle of the crest. The M tooth has equilateral, parallel cutting flanks. The NU tooth shape is defined by an asymmetrical triangular tooth configuration having a shallow, extended tooth gap between two adjacent teeth each. The NV tooth shape is the same as the NU tooth shape, except that the extended tooth gap between two teeth is missing. The PV tooth configuration likewise is defined by an asymmetrical triangular tooth shape. However, the relief is curved and the base of the tooth gap is very much rounded.
No matter what the shape, the saw teeth normally are wrenched in alternate directions, in other words bent alternatingly to the right or left in order to prevent the sawing from becoming untrue.